Zombie Bleach
by ToshiroHitsugaya105
Summary: Bleach Zombie AU Ichigo and the others find themselves stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse Will they be able to survive and find their friends? Will they manage to escape the city alive? Read to find out!
1. What's going on?

_**A/N Okay so this is probably my first time writing horror ish stuff? I promise It will get better as the plot moves along thank you for reading and let me know what you thought!**_

 _ **Part one: The Beginning of Hell.**_

 **Ichigo:**

The day started normal as any autumn morning would, rain pouring from the sky above beating on the leaf covered pavement softening the sound. Ichigo walked slowly enjoying the sound of the rain on his umbrella. The ginger took a deep breath in and sighed, he loved the smell of the rain, it made everything smell vivid and crisp, he appreciated that. Once Ichigo arrived at school he shook off the water from his umbrella and placed it on the drying racks.

"Hey, where is everyone?" He said out loud when he walked into his classroom studying the room carefully as if the students were hiding. Uryu pushed his glasses up his face and looked up from his book what Ichigo assumed was something to do with sewing and shot Ichigo an annoyed look.

"Haven't you heard Ichigo? Everyone's getting sick lately, your dad owns a small clinic how have you not heard?" Uryu shook his head at Ichigo's apparent obliviousness.

"Look my dad hasn't been around much so it's not my fault." Ichigo grumbled back rubbing the back of his head feeling half embarrassed. Ichigo sighed loudly as he took his seat noticing Orihime wasn't here either as were many of the students. Ichigo couldn't help but feel a pang of worry for Orihime, he wasn't exactly sure why but he had a gut feeling she was in danger. She was probably just sick knowing her. Ichigo rubbed his forehead feeling more exhausted than usual. Maybe he'd stop by her house later and bring Rukia and Renji the two of them usually cheered Orihime up. Ichigo turned in his seat to see who of the few were present.

"Hey Chad! Keigo! Is Mizuiro sick too?" Chad shrugged response.

"I don't know Ichigo!" Keigo began to whine "I mean he hardly talks to me anymore! " He exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air for dramatic effect. "For all I know he's on a cruise ship with a ton of hot babe's without me!" Ichigo rolled his eyes in response, ' _typical Keigo.'_

 **Renji:**

"Hey Ichigo!" Renji shouted as he made his way into the classroom. "Surprised to see you're not sick yet." Renji continued making his way over to Ichigo and his friends. The redhead shook his head in dismay. "It looks like it's getting pretty bad out there. The tattooed boy showed his softer side as he begun to chew at his nails slightly. Realizing the group was staring at him as he never showed his softer side to them he quickly changed his attitude feeling self conscious.

"Why are we at school if this is going on anyway? We should be staying at home! not spreading germs out in public. It's real stupid if you ask me." Renji crossed his arms his tattoos defining his muscles.

"It's just a flu Renji not the plague, of course school's going to be open, quit being such an idiot, or you'll be a delinquent and a drop out." Ichigo replied smiling at himself. This angered Renji. Sometimes he got really sick of everyone calling him stupid.

"I'll show you delinquent carrot top just come over here and - Renji's imminent beat down was cut short by a loud bang coming from the class down the hall."What the fuck was that?!" Renji exclaimed recovering from the shock. Everyone stood in absolute silence trying to hear what was going on.

"Whatever the commotion was I think it's over now, probably just some freshmen fighting or something. You know how stupid everyone is here, except for me of course." Uryu said smirking to himself.

"Yeah, whatever four eyes." The red head jeered

"Hey!-" Uryu's monologue was cut off by screaming coming from the same classroom.

"What on earth is going on out there?" Keigo finally spoke, it was unusual for him to even shut up for a minute.

"Guys I think we should get outta here." Chad spoke monotonically as he stood up.

"Well if Chad has a bad feeling about this than I'm outta here!" Keigo ran to the door and swung it open but instead of running he stood dead in his tracks. A short black haired figure stood screaming in front of him. "Close the door! Hurry!" It screamed throwing itself inside the classroom.

 **Rukia:**

Rukia felt the panic swelling in her throat, she was breathing but she didn't feel like she was, tears rimmed her eyes. She couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. She scrambled up from the floor dusting herself off. "What's the big idea Keigo? standing there with the door wide open like that!" Rukia half screamed trying to keep her voice low.

"What's the problem Rukia? Why did we just hear screaming a second ago? and why are you covered in blood?"Renji questioned concerned for her well being. Rukia bit her lip trying to stop herself from shaking.

"There's something going around, and it ain't no normal flu guys. We need to get out of here A.S.A.P." As if to prove her point an unearthly moan could be heard outside in the hallways. "Get to the windows now." Rukia whispered ushering everyone against the wall. "And if anything comes in here...Jump." She was replied with horrified looks.

"Just what happened to you out there Rukia?" Uryu asked

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." The groaning outside grew louder, it seemed that whatever was groaning had some friends. shuffling could be heard outside the door followed by scratching.

"Try me" Uryu challenged not satisfied with her response.

"All I know is Professor Ukitake isn't human anymore." Rukia said looking down at her pale hands now covered in blood.

"What do you mean?" Renji questioned not understanding what was going on.

"I saw him... I saw him eating someone, he was like an animal, one minute he was normal and then the next thing I knew he collapsed to the floor."Rukia took a breath trying to calm herself down. "And then one of the students in front of me bent down to help him and suddenly he started clamping down on his neck!"

"Are you sure what you saw was real?" Renji asked

"Yes I'm sure it was real, Renji does it not look real enough to you?" She said gesturing to her outfit." Renji stood quiet

"That's what I thought." Rukia deadpanned leaving the group in an uncomfortable silence.

"Did you call the police?" Uryu questioned

"Yes of course but there was no response! I even tried the non emergency line! but-"Rukia's story was cut short by banging and scratching on the door. "Guys get ready to jump." She squeaked, she wanted to seem calm and collected but after what she saw she couldn't help but freak out.

 **Ichigo:**

Ichigo looked out the window and assessed the jump. "Well I don't know about you but I don't think we can survive the jump unless we climb to the ledge over there by the math room." Ichigo pointed to a rotten wooden ledge that looked like it wouldn't be able to hold the weight of a small house cat.

"Well guy's I suggest we find a plan real quick, cause cannibal Ukitake will be in here with us soon if we don't hurry!" Keigo whined

"Okay, screw it, let's go!" Ichigo opened the window as wide as he could slipping out slowly. He placed his feet on the window pane

"Hurry!" Rukia begged impatiently.

"Alright, alright!" Ichigo rolled his eyes he's he didn't know what all the fuss was about, he figured maybe Ukitake got rabies or something god knows with all the strange pets he kept in his classroom. As far as Ichigo was concerned it wasn't a huge deal not worth jumping out the window for until he looked into the window of the math classroom. A grotesque figure dressed in a tattered school uniform. It had pinned its face against the window smearing blood and puss all over the it saw Ichigo it leaned it's head back letting out a un-humanly screech causing more figures to come to the window. Ichigo was almost face to face with the creature, he could smell the stench of death through the cold glass, making Ichigo sick. He really didn't like the effect the rain had on scents right now. Ichigo climbed back into the classroom.

"New plan." He paused to wipe his mouth."We can't go on that ledge."

"Why not?" Keigo whined.

"Because, we will be killed. and not from the fall." Keigo's eyes hardened.

 **Uryu:**

Uryu pushed his glasses up his nose and sighed."There should be a support beam connecting this room to the ground why don't we just slide down it fireman style?" Uryu suggested.

"Uryu! you're a genious!" Renji exclaimed excitedly

"Tell me something I don't know" He replied without a hint of sarcasm.

"Don't ruin it Uryu." Renji warned.

"So, who's going to go first then?" Keigo brought up the inevitable argument. Ichigo shook his head.

"Nope I don't wanna be stuck down there by myself to whatever might be lurking down there. No way." This made the rest of the group uneasy. Rukia bit her lip which by now Uryu figured was raw. He didn't particularly feel like offering to go first especially now that Ichigo was opposed to the fact, he knew the Oranged haired kid usually did things head on then used logic after words, the fact that he was now applying logic lead Uryu to believe there was something serious going on, besides the strange moaning and banging on the door.

"How about you Keigo? since you seemed so anxious to get going in the first place." Renji offered nudging Keigo closer to the window. Keigo tensed balling his hands into fists.

"Hey, leave Keigo alone." Ichigo snapped.

"Fine I guess, I'll go first then." Ichigo said defeated taking a deep breath in. Uryu could see he was visibly shaking.

"No. I'll go."

 **Chad:**

The giant looked down at the group below him. "I said, I'll go first." "Chad no it's fine I'll g-"

Chad shoved past Ichigo.

"It's obvious you're to scared to go first, I got your back Ichigo... always." Ichigo's face was red with embarrassment. Chad slipped out the window without another word. Chad did his best to avoid looking at the window of the math classroom but he couldn't look away when he saw the crowd of grotesque figures gathered at the window all dressed in school uniforms, some dressed as teachers. 'Man we gotta get out of here quickly.' Chad pushed the fear out of his mind and slid gently down the support beam landing firmly on the pavement below. Chad wasted no time getting back on his feet and searching his surroundings for any potential threat. He was certain he had an idea of what was going on, he just didn't want to admit it to himself. Chad was soon joined by Ichigo who gave him a grave nod.

"Ichigo."

"Yeah Chad?"

"What's going on? If I didn't know better I'd say were facing a Zom-"

"Don't say the 'Z' word!" Ichigo snapped surprising Chad. "Please Chad." Ichigo continued softening his tone. Chad nodded. He could see the fear in the ginger's eyes, Chad knew how concerned he must be for his friends and family.

"Hey guys uhm what's going on?" Renji began jumping off from the poll.

"It looks like we're on for a hell of a ride." Ichigo replied stiffly. The gang was soon joined by Rukia and Uryu, the only one left was Keigo.

"What's taking him so long?" Rukia paced nervously. Their thoughts were interrupted by glass shattering. All five instinctively looked up towards the math room. One of the creatures had found the ability to break glass, but not at the cost of tearing it's arm apart in the process. It waved its half severed arm out the window, it looked like a demented pinwheel. It continued to flail until it finally got cut loose from the creature's body landing on the pavement below with a sickly thud. The five gaged in unison at the scene in front of them.

"Keigo! if you aren't down here in two minutes we're leaving you to die." Ichigo shouted to the room above. Chad had a hard time believing Ichigo would leave anyone alone to die.

"Okay! Okay I'm coming Keigo's voice shook and the five witnessed him climb out of the window his legs shaking erratically as he got a grip of the poll.

"Hurry!" Chad shouted the anticipation getting to him.

"I said I'm comi-" The group gasped as a hand swiped at Keigo's head missing at the last minute. Keigo lost his grip from the poll due to the rain and shock causing him to fall and land on the ground with a crunch.

"Oh my god my foot." Keigo gripped his ankle tightly. Moaning could be heard louder now that the window was broken.

"Come on guys we need to find a safe place first then we can assess injuries. Chad nodded and threw keigo over his back, it was times like these Chad appreciated he was strong.

"I think we should stop by your place and get some supplies and maybe try call the police again or something." Uryu suggested.

"Good plan let's go." Ichigo started to run with everyone following suit.

 **Uryu:**

Uryu breathed heavily,his lungs were failing him he really wished he had brought his inhaler with him, but it was now left alone in the classroom along with Zombie Ukitake. Uryu wasn't afraid to admit the truth he had seen horror movie's he knew what was going down, frankly if the they couldn't get through to the police then as far as he was concerned they were screwed. But he had a plan, he always had a plan he just had to come up with one. Uryu was on edge there we so many people who weren't even at school today were they sick too? or were they like him and the others? Uryu was worried especially about Orihime, she was the only member of the group who wasn't currently here and if she was in fact 'not infected' Uryu was certain she wouldn't be able to get through this alone.

Once they had gotten to Ichigo's house the group felt a whole new air of suspense. Luckily for them the door didn't seem to have a scratch on it. Ichigo opened it gingerly as quietly as possible. Once he determined the coast was clear the rest of them shuffled in locking the door behind them. Uryu took this moment to catch his breath, his lungs and throat burning, he focused on getting enough air.

"Hey you okay there Uryu?" Renji asked genuinely concerned Uryu just waved him off, he didn't have enough oxygen to speak and make sense.

"Hold on Uryu I think I got something that could help you out just wait here." Ichigo said running up the wooden stairs ' _As if i'd be going anywhere_ ' Uryu rolled his eyes. Ichigo came running back downstairs with an inhaler.

"My sister used to have asthma, here take it." Ichigo said tossing it to Uryu. Uryu caught it and nodded in thanks as he inhaled the familiar tasting medicine.

"While we are here we should try call the cops." Uryu said finally able to breath at a somewhat normal pace. Uryu flipped his cell phone out of his back pocket and dialed the number into his phone. He waited patiently for the phone to connect but all he got was the repetitive monotone beep informing him the line was busy.

"Nothing." Uryu said not the least bit shocked ' _I'll try my dad he does work at the hospital'._ Uryu never did get along with his dad, in fact most times he'd rather pretend he didn't even have a dad but something about this whole situation made him feel a sense of worry for the old guy. Uryu scrolled through his contacts and located his dad's number, he held his phone up to his ear not expecting anyone to pick up. To his surprise it was answered on the first ring.

"Ryuken?" Uryu spoke all he heard was static on the other end. "Dad?"

" _Uryu I'm at the hospital, you have to get out of town as soon as possible-... Station and the make a-..."_ Uryu had trouble making out what his father was saying.

"Dad why do we have to get out of town what's going on down there?" Uryu shouted over the static

 _"Look Uryu I don't have a lot of time to explain just remember this: Aim for the head their slow for the most part, don't eat anything that's raw, boil water before you drink it etc etc. And please try not to disappoint me before I die_."

There was screaming and commotion in the background before the line cut out. Uryu felt a mix of emotions, half of him was mad that his dad always called him a disappointment, though that was normal he still felt a deep sadness because it seemed he had just heard the last words he was ever going to hear from his father, and they were insulting. Uryu had made his way into the living room where everyone was sat with Ichigo wrapping up Keigo's foot.

"So any news?" Rukia asked immediately hope showing in her violet eyes.

"I've got some very bad news." Uryu begun feeling his stomach flip flop he really didn't want to be the one to tell the group this.

 **Ichigo:**

Ichigo braced himself for the worst, he wasn't sure what to expect so much had happened in the last hour he wasn't even sure if he had processed it yet. He did not have a good feeling about this at all, he could tell by the look of Uryu's face he wasn't going to like it. "Well, I called the police and the line was busy, just like Rukia had said happened to her. So I called my dad who works at the hospital..." He trailed off taking a deep breath."And?" Rukia pushed "And well, he told us to get out of town, that something serious was going down. He said something about they're pretty slow and to aim for their head. So I'm guessing this has gone city wide by now." "What's citywide?"Keigo asked dubiously "Keigo did you hit your head as well?" Rukia asked incredulously "Were facing-I hate to say it but I think we are facing a Zombie apocalypse." eerie silence filled the air. "Well we don't know for sure it's zombies I mean it could be-" Renji began "Could be what Renji? I literally saw Professor Ukitake eating a student and if that didn't convince you don't you think the random arm falling out of the classroom window was enough?!" Rukia reasoned. "I know. I just I don't want it to be true alright? Renji massaged his temples looking stressed. "This is way to much to take." The red haired man shook his head. "Well in any case we have to come up with a plan." Ichigo started "I think we should try to find any more survivors who knows who's out there?" The group nodded "Funny you should mention that, I was thinking we should really try go to Orihime's I don't want to leave her on her own here." Rukia said picking at her nails. "Yes It would really cheer me up to see Orihime right now!" Keigo swooned. Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Alright, we stock up here get any supplies we can and then find everyone we can and then we get the fuck out of dodge. sound like a plan?" The group nodded "Alright lets roll, first stop Orihime's."


	2. Reunite

**Renji:**

Renji cracked his neck mentally preparing himself, he wasn't sure what to expect. The six of them had managed to get to Ichigo's without much of a problem, Renji just hoped their luck kept up, he wasn't really looking forward to being eaten alive. Renji felt thankful that he didn't have family living here for once, at least he didn't have to worry if they were alright, unlike Ichigo. Even Uryu seemed pretty distant after his phone call with his dad he wondered just exactly how serious this situation was. He was praying he would just wake up, and everything just be a horrible nightmare, but I didn't seem like that was the case. The six of them searched Ichigo's house for any supplies Rukia was in charge of food Renji watched her as she shoved various cans into a large black bag, he had a feeling he'd end up carrying it later. Ichigo and Uryu teamed up together to find medical supplies and reference books, it seemed fitting since both their dad's were doctors. Renji felt absolutely useless, Chad searched for weapons and he was left to watch Keigo and ensure he was okay, he figured Keigo felt as useless as he did. He couldn't imagine how much of a burden he must feel like. "Hey, so..." Renji tried to start a conversation. Keigo just looked the other way, it was unusual to see the guy avoid interaction which made Renji feel even worse. "Were going to be okay you know? This is probably just some sick joke you know?" Renji tried to reassure Keigo but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. Renji gave up on making conversation and decided to see if Chad needed help.

"So find anything that'd be of use to us?" Renji said appearing in the doorway. Chad was in the garage holding what looked like a crow bar and a fire poker. The basement was dimly lit and smelled of stale air, Renji scrunched his nose in response."

Nothing really." Chad dead panned "God you guys really aren't conversationalists today are you?" Chad didn't respond he just kept searching through random boxes. Renji spotted a fire axe near the garage door. Renji climbed over top of the various cardboard boxes that had been strewn everywhere by Chad clearly not caring about tidiness. Renji grabbed the axe by the smooth wooden handle. "Perfect." Renji was admiring the axe before a strange gurgling snapped him out of his trance. "Chad have you not eaten or something?"

"What do you mean?"Chad replied confused. "I mean that gurgling noise your stomach is making it doesn't sound healthy at all." Renji said turning to face him.

"Renji, my stomach isn't growling." Chad said slowly. Renji whipped around to face the garage door again when he noticed it was open, and had been the entire time.

"Shit shit shit. Chad!" Renji fell backwards the cardboard boxes softening the blow. The creature making the gurgling noise finally appeared out of the corner too dark to have been spotted earlier. It was dressed in what used to be what used to be a expensive powder blue suit. He looked as if it was dressed for a wedding, minus the blood and dirt. "I don't think it noticed me." Renji whispered to Chad. Chad nodded and Renji slowly crab walked backwards carefully to ensure he was as quiet as possible. A loud bang was heard coming from the kitchen followed by Rukia loudly swearing. The formerly known human swiveled it's head around without its body following, it was like a fucked up magic trick. "Sick." Renji said in half awe. The zombie turned it's body to face the same way making an array of sound effects, it sounded like popcorn popping. Renji felt like he was going to be sick. Renji noticed the corsage pinned on it's suit. ' _Guess he's not getting married now.'_

The former groom's yellow glassy eyes made contact with Renji's eyes. Renji couldn't sense anything in it's eyes 'It literally is the walking dead.' The zombie groom roared baring it's teeth."Oh fuck Chad run!" Renji shouted trying to scramble to his feet. The zombie charged toward Renji catching him off guard and scratching Renji's neck with it's claws. "Ow fuck!" The redhead cursed his neck stinging. Renji held his breath as the zombie's face was inches from his. Renji held the axe horizontally attempting to hold the grotesque creature back. The pale yellowed eye'd creature nipped at the air in front of Renji's face in frustration. Renji kicked it's torso sending it back far enough for him to attack. Renji took in a deep breath, there was no room for error now. The creature charged again, Renji closed his eyes and swung the axe down as hard as he could. He felt it connect and he opened his eyes The axe was halfway down the groom's head splitting it down the center, blood splattered everywhere covering Renji and the grooms suit in blood. Renji turned his head away and threw up.

"We need the axe." Chad spoke for the first time in what felt like forever.

"I know." Renji said not looking forward to prying it out of the grooms head. Renji put a foot on the now dead dead grooms shoulder and pulled as hard as he could. Renji felt the axe shift and internally cheered, he had ripped the axe out, but it wasn't the only thing to come with it. Renji had unintentionally decapitated the zombie, the head still stuck on the axe.

"Fuck this I can't." Renji dropped the axe on the floor,causing the head to finally pop off. Renji shook his head."I can't do this Chad I fucking won't." Chad stood quietly in the doorway.

"We need to get out of here." was all he said.

"Yeah I got it I'm coming." Renji reluctantly picked up the axe from the cold floor and exited the garage locking the door behind him.

 **Rukia:**

Rukia was on all fours cleaning up food that she had spilt everywhere. She cursed herself for being so short, if she was only a bit taller she wouldn't have dropped everything everywhere and there would be more food. She grabbed what she could salvage and threw it into a black duffle bag containing other non perishable food items that she had discovered. She discovered Ichigo's family had a thing for Kraft dinner and Mr noodles she had pretty much filled the entire duffle bag with those alone.

"Guy's we need to get out of here as soon as possible!" Renji exclaimed running into the living room. Rukia felt her stomach flip flop when she saw the state of the broad shouldered man.

"Renji! You're covered in blood! what happened? Do I even need to ask?" Renji looked like he had been through hell, His face and neck covered in blood.

"Yeah, there was one of those things in your garage Ichigo." Renji half assed explained.

Rukia noticed deep gashes along the side of the redhead's neck."Renji! your neck!" Rukia ran over to him feeling worried, what if he turned or something, she had seen it on T.V even the slightest thing caused someone to turn. He heart dropped at the thought of losing Renji he was her best friend he meant everything to her. ' _Stop it, he's probably fine._ '

"It's just a scratch Rukia, nothing to get worked up about." Renji waved off.

"So what exactly happened ?" Ichigo said when it was his turn to talk.

"Your garage door was open and I guess a"He paused swallowing hard "A zombie came in and attacked me, but luckily I had found this axe and killed it. Not without a bit of a fight though." Renji looked like he was trying to act casual but Rukia knew when something was bothering the muscular redhead.

"Is that where you got the scratches from? The zombie?" Uryu asked looking at Renji suspiciously

"Yeah, the fucker had some serious claw going on." Uryu pursed his lips.

"What Uryu?" Renji asked defensively. "

Calm down Renji." Uryu shook his head."I was just thinking we should clean those wounds before they get infected." Renji nodded.

"But we should really get going, I don't think staying here much longer is going to be a good idea." Rukia said biting her nails. "We should do one last check that we have everything we need and get going. and while that's happening I'll clean Renji's cuts." The rest of them nodded obeying Rukia's orders."So." Rukia started.

"So." Renji repeated raising a tattooed eyebrow.

"What happened back there?" Rukia spoke as she searched through the first aid kit for supplies.

"What do you mean I already told everyone?" Renji snapped slightly

"No Renji, I mean what really happened Why are you weird all of a sudden?"Rukia interrogated as she rubbed the alcohol wipe along the angry cuts on Renji's neck. Renji winced in response.

"What do you mean Rukia? I just killed someone, and I know he wasn't human anymore but I think thats part of it. I mean he was dressed for his wedding Rukia, and instead he ends up zombified and beheaded on Ichigo's garage floor." Renji held his face in his hands "It's just so fucked up. I don't wanna go through this Rukia." Renji's hands were balled into fists. Rukia rested her head on his shoulder and stroked his back gently,

"Look, I've known you since Pre-school I know you can get through this, and we are going to find Orihime and we are going to fix this somehow. As long as we stick together we will be fine." Renji nodded.

"Yeah thanks Rukia." Renji gave her a tight smile. "Alright lets get going."

 **Orihime:**

Orihime's morning started out normal, unfortunately she soon realised it would not be a normal day. She had gotten up to make herself some tea before school as she usually did, She hummed to herself as she waited for the kettle to come to a boil. The curvy redhead planned what she was going to do today, she knew Tatsuki was sick and planned on bringing her soup at lunch. _'Oh! that reminds me! I made biscuits too!'_ Orihime excitedly grabbed the biscuits and the container of soup and threw it into her bag, all she wanted to do was make Tatsuki feel better, thats all she ever wanted to do and she was determined to make today one of those days. Lost in her thoughts she had totally disregarded the time "Oh no! I'm late!" Orihime cursed herself for being such an airheaded and threw her school bag over her shoulder. She quickly shut the door behind her and started running down the hall toward the stairs when she noticed a neighbour from a couple doors down crouched leaning forward making a strange noise. "Hey Shuhei are you okay?" He just growled in response. "Oh haven't had your coffee yet?" Shuhei lifted his head and turned around to face Orihime, exposing his grey pussy face covered in blood. "Oh my god!" Orihime gasped and caught a glimpse of what was infront of him. A person lying on the ground dead, not just any person but Tatsuki, Orihime could hardly tell though her face was almost unrecognizable. Shuhei had ripped open her stomach and was currently chewing on her intestines like he was eating spaghetti. Orihime held back a scream hoping the thing formerly known as Shuhei would continue its meal. Just as she suspected it did and Orihime quickly back stepped until she got to her door thanking god that she didn't lock it and running inside. The redhead was sobbing quietly now she locked the doors and begun to close the chose to hide in the bath tub unsure of where else to go. In a way it was worse not seeing because every noise made her jump but she prefered it over seeing her best friend being eaten. Orihime rocked back and forth trying to calm herself. ' _Its just a dream, just a dream._ ' But it wasn't and deep down she knew that which made it worse. Orihime had drifted into sleep when she heard footsteps in her hallway. Her stomach flip flopped as her eye's searched for something she could use as a weapon. Orihime grabbed the toilet tank lid and thought it'd be better than a bottle of shampoo. Orihime prepared herself she was afraid of what could happen, she knew she was considered weak by most people but now of all times she hoped she could prove them wrong. The footsteps came closer to the door. _'Ohmygod Ohmygod Ohmygod_ ' Orihime started to hyperventilate She heard the creature moaning and gurgling. Orihime stepped on top of her toilet hoping to give herself a height advantage. The thing finally made it's appearance it's arms stretched out in front of itself. It was Shuhei again which made Orihime mad. Zombie Shuhei grabbed her legs digging it's claws into her. Orihime regretted the decision to stand on top of the toilet now realising the faults in her plan. Orihime got one of her legs lose allowing her to shove the creature back with her foot she regained her balance on the toilet and let out a warrior cry as she lifted the toilet tank lid above her head and smashing shuhei in the face with it. Blood splattered against her shower curtain making the scene look straight out of a horror movie. Shuhei wabbled but didn't falter. Orihime screamed hitting him again and again, she felt so angry it was all his fault, Tatsuki was dead because of him, her world would never be the same because of him. After a while Orihime looked at what she had done. Zombie Shuhei was definitely dead his brains mashed everywhere mostly on Orihime's shirt. Orihime put a shaking hand over her mouth "I'm so sorry, It wasn't your fault I'm so sorry." Orihime started to cry again. ' _Why is this happening?_ '

 **Ichigo:**

Ichigo could not stop worrying about everything, his anxiety was through the roof, he wanted his dad to be okay he wanted Orihime and Tatsuki to be okay, he just wanted to be able to protect everyone. They weren't far from Orihime's now they could see her apartment complex now from the looks of it nothing major had . The six of them started jogging finally they were here and neither of them wanted to wait to find out if Orihime was okay. "Okay Renji come with me the rest of you wait downstairs while we go grab Orihime.

"Hey I want to come!" Rukia said in protest.

"No Rukia wait here, we need you to be look out with Chad and Uryu." Rukia pouted in response and the two men quietly made their way up the stairs.

"I hear something." Renji whispered grabbing Ichigo's arm. The redhead stopped closed his eyes and focused.

"Sounds like crying." Renji nodded. Two of them rushed to Orihime's door finding it busted open. Ichigo and Renji shared a glance and gingerly stepped in.

"I don't hear the crying anymore." Ichigo whispered Ichigo continued down the hall when he noticed blood on the floor leading to the bathroom. The redhead rushed burst through the bathroom door in a panic dodging at the last second as something nearly swooped in and took his head off.

"Oh my god I'm sorry I thought you were another one of those things!" Ichigo looked up to find Orihime standing on top of her toilet. Her eyes were red and puffy. Ichigo took in the scene around him there was a dead body in the bathtub and another at Orihime's feet. What looked like grey oatmeal covered the floor and Orihime Ichigo gagged when he realised it was brains.

"We've come to get you outta here." Ichigo said stepping over the dead body and throwing Orihime over his walked until he was in her living room before she whimpered.

"Thanks, but your shoulder is digging into my stomach please put me down." Orihime said as nicely as possible.

"Yeah of course sorry." Ichigo felt deflated he already missed Orihime's bubbly personality, but he figured he was going to miss a lot more. The three of them walked outside on their way to rejoin with the group when Orihime stopped dead in her tracks.

"Orihime what's wrong?" Tatsuki's unrecognizable body laid in the same position Orihime saw it last, but she could tell it had been picked at more.

"Tatsuki." She said her voice shaking "I-I-" Orihime fell to her knees sobbing uncontrollably. Ichigo' stomach flipped "What do you mean that's Tatsuki?" Ichigo couldn't believe it he wouldn't. Sure enough as he got closer he recognized the torn up clothes and the familiar charm bracelet on one of the more untouched wrists. Ichigo finally broke down crying. He was sick of this already he just wanted to go home and sleep and see his dad and sisters but it looked like that would never be a reality again.

"Guy's I know you need to mourn but right now isn't the best time we gotta go." Renji ushered picking up Orihime and running towards the steps. "Ichigo, I'm sorry but we have to get out now or she died for nothing." Ichigo wiped his eyes.

"Okay lets go, whats happening?"

"A huge horde of zombies is headed this way we need to find a safe place now." Uryu informed Ichigo.

"Holy shit." Ichigo was breathless as he looked down below him in the distance all he could see was a grey cloud, together the zombies sounded like a demented white noise machine. "Alright, sorry to inform you all but unless anyone had a secret underground bunker we are fucked." Uryu said bluntly.


	3. Conflict

**So this chapter is a little shorter sorry about that, And sorry for taking so long to update I went camping and wasn't able to write until I got home yesterday! so I apologize for the delay and I hope you all like this chapter. Fingers crossed.**

 **Chad:**

Chad was a huge mess, he couldn't get the image of Renji killing the zombie out of his head. Chad wasn't one for violence he really hated to see such a gruesome scene. He wish he could just get sick and throw up like the others but instead he kept it bottled up inside, he wanted to destroy the memories of seeing Ichigo and Orihime crying he wish he could change things but he didn't know how.

Chad had tried his best to keep himself calm, which was hard given the current situation. He still had to carry Keigo on his back although he was now passed out that made him heavier which made him nervous, he was confident he wouldn't drop the lanky brunette. he was just unsure of how fast he could run with him on his back, and with the seemingly oncoming horde that might be a problem. Luckily for them they seemed to be moving pretty slow, Chad guessed there were no more than a hundred but seven V.S. a hundred makes the odds of surviving pretty damn low. "So anyone got any idea's cause i'm not up for dying just yet." Uryu said trying to look brave. Now that Chad thought about it he had an idea.

"Okay guys follow me!" Chad hiked Keigo up and began to jog in front of the group.

"Where are we going Chad?" Ichigo shouted running behind him.

"I know of a gun store down a couple blocks from here, if we can get armed up we will have more options! There should also be a radio there and we can see if we can find any information."

"Anything sounds better than staying here!" Rukia commented jogging beside Chad. Uryu was holding the fire poker and Ichigo was equipped with the crowbar both of them on opposite sides of the group. Renji of course still had the now bloody axe in his hand he seemed to be carrying it with a sense of guilt. Chad sighed he really hoped they didn't run into more zombies before they got guns, he was afraid of how well they could fend themselves off with such little equipment.

"Were almost there just one more block!" Chad shouted. Suddenly he heard gasps from everyone behind him.

"Chad watch out!" Renji screamed. Spun around to find a stray zombie running at him at full speed. "Oh shi-" Chad ducked causing the zombie to fly over Chad. The group's formation broke as everyone scattered trying to avoid being attacked.

"Help! Oh my god help!" Keigo screamed. It was only now that Chad realised what had happened. The zombie wasn't aiming for him, but for Keigo. and was now growling as it begun digging it's claws into Keigo's stomach forcing him to cough up blood. "Auuugh!" Ichigo screamed as he swung at the zombie's head as if it he were playing baseball and the zombie's head was the ball. The zombie fell off Keigo stunned but not dead in the slightest. "This one's faster than the one I dealt with." Renji noted. Ichigo didn't give the zombie time to make a counter strike, instead he swung at it's head again, and again. until it finally stopped growling. Chad ran over to pick up Keigo.

"Leave me." He coughed violently. "I'm as good as dead now, don't let me get you guy's killed."

"Keigo stop being so dramatic you're fine." Ichigo tried his best to sound half smiled.

"It's okay Ichigo."He winced as he spoke. "I'll be okay." Keigo closed his eyes and his face went slack. "Keigo!" Ichigo slapped his face lightly "You gotta stay awake." When Keigo didn't respond Ichigo picked him up.

"He's dead Ichigo." Chad said remorsefully holding back tears.

"I don't care I'm not leaving him out to be eaten." Chad nodded and the group silently began walking again.

 **Uryu:**

The hits kept coming. First his dad then Tatsuki and now wished Ichigo would've left Keigo's body on the road, it made it harder having to see Keigo dead, it was easier to think about him in the past then to be forced to see reality. Uryu wanted to put it behind him, not that he didn't like Keigo he just couldn't handle it anymore. Uryu was also worried about the fact that it could attract more zombies, The blue eyed boy clenched the Iron fire poker harder, if only he had seen it coming if only he could've reacted quicker. _'If only...'_ There was so much guilt on his shoulders already he really didn't know how much more he could take.

"Here!" Chad shouted making a sharp left, Uryu wished people would stop shouting, he knew noise attracted zombies they were practically a walking buffet. They had only seen a couple of stragglers since the one that killed Keigo but none of them attacked, Uryu found it odd but he didn't have time to analyze them, he had to focus on finding a place to hole up because night was coming soon. The six of them poured into the gun store locking the door behind them.

"Shouldn't we check out the place first before we lock ourselves in here?" Uryu shook his head.

"Right!" Renji said running into the back room holding his axe in front of him. "Woah theres so much shit back here!" Renji shouted.

"Don't shout Renji you could attract the whole neighbourhood!" Uryu snapped.

"Well maybe you should stop yelling then!" Renji shouted back.

"Guys lets just get some guns and get out okay?" Rukia said maintaining the peace.

"Fine." Renji and Uryu said crossing their arms. Chad and Ichigo grabbed some hunting rifles from the front counter.

"This should work just fine." Chad said holding the gun and pretending to aim.

"Guys come here!" Renji called from the back "I found something even better than hunting rifles!" The group shoved themselves into the small room. "Woah." Uryu gasped. The room was filled with an assortment of guns many illegal to sell.

"look at this!" Rukia said excitedly picking up a pamphlet.' _How to Survive in the wild_.' read the front. "It has a bunch of survival tips! that could be useful!" _'Yeah if we were camping maybe._ ' Uryu thought but just nodded and searched through the guns he found an M16

"Sweet, we should be okay if we can make the ammo last." Uryu said to no one in particular. Ichigo bit his lip looking through the pile in front of him, it was obvious he was still grief stricken but he knew survival was important. Finally he settled for a semi-automatic rifle with a bayonet mounted on top. Uryu grimaced at the thought of what violence was to come.

"Why are all these guns here? It's like they were preparing for a war or something." Renji observed.

"Who cares, as long as it benefits us." Ichigo shrugged off Renji's comment.

"No, Renji's on to something something definitely isn't right here. You can't tell me this is just a coincidence we found all these weapons out of sheer luck." Uryu lifted up his glasses to see better. He looked around the room he felt like the walls were suffocating him it was so tiny. The blue haired boy searched for papers, notes documents anything that could tell them anything, Renji had raised a good point and Uryu had a feeling it had something to do with their current Zom situation. Uryu spotted a torn piece of paper on the floor and crouched to pick it up. "huh" Uryu furrowed his eyebrows, the piece of paper he picked up had numbers scrawled on it, it looked like coordinates but where?

"Oh that looks like the hospitals coordinates." Orihime spoke making everyone jump, she had been quiet for so long they almost forgot she was there.

"Are you sure Orihime?" Uryu scratched the back of his neck. Orihime just nodded solemnly, usually she would've gone on a whole spiel about how she knew this information, but Uryu figured if he had gone what she had gone through he wouldn't feel like talking either. Uryu nodded back and slipped the coordinates into his back pocket. By this point everyone had a gun except Orihime who seemed to put as much distance from herself and the weapons as possible. "Orihime, I know you don't like violence but your going to have to able to defend yourself. I mean look what happened to Keigo." The words came out before Uryu could think about how insensitive it was.

"Hey! Don't scare Orihime like that. Don't talk about Keigo like it was his fault. Fuck." Ichigo snapped putting his head in his hands there was an awkward silence for what felt like forever.

"Uhm, I guess I'll take this one then." Orihime gingerly picked up a Winchester pump action shotgun." Uryu doubted she would be able to figure it out but it was better than nothing. "Here take this too." Uryu said handing her a .44 Mag

"It's better to have two anyway." He explained as she pocketed the silver gun.

"What do you think this could all mean then?" Ichigo finally perked up in interest. "I don't know to be honest with you but I think maybe this isn't some flu gone wacky, maybe it's more personal than that." Uryu rubbed his eyes in exhaustion.

"Personal? How?" Orihime pipped in

"It could've been an intentionally spread disease, like a Bio weapon of sorts."

"And you think whoever owned this store knew that? Or planned it?" Renji eyed the room nervously

"It's possible." Uryu shrugged

"Well how do you know for sure?" The orange haired boy persisted.

"I don't know Ichigo, but it looks like we will get our answers if we go to the hospital." Uryu picked up a pistol for himself

"I don't know... What about leaving town and all of that jazz should we really go to a hospital where there could be thousands of these rotten freaks?" Renji pipped in Ichigo nodding his head in agreement. Uryu wasn't sure if part of him wanted to go to the hospital because he believed there would be something at the hospital to answer this epidemic crisis or if he just wanted to see if his father was really in fact dead.

"What if it's the same out of town as it is here? What if we can find a cure what if that's what the coordinates are telling us." Uryu pleaded praying he could make a case for himself.

The group stared at him silently.

 **Rukia:**

"Okay, Uryu could be on to something. I say we go." Rukia spoke ending the silence.

"Fine. We will go. but first we need to...Keigo I can't..." Ichigo stuttered not wanted to admit one of his friends was dead.

"Yeah, I have an idea." Rukia grabbed some old tattered rags from the back of the store that had previously covered the guns, and carried them over beside Keigo. Rukia wrapped up Keigo in the sheets carefully making sure to treat his body with respect. "Okay I saw some matches and propane in the back help me carry him outside." Rukia ordered Ichigo who grabbed Keigo's arms while she grabbed his legs. Uryu caught on to what she was doing and grabbed the propane and matches. Ichigo scrunched up his features when he realised what Rukia's plan was, he opened his mouth to protest but Rukia quickly stopped him.

"I know the middle of the street is no place for him Ichigo but we don't have time to bury him anywhere so were going to have to give him a viking funeral, and unfortunately it has to be carried out on the sidewalk." Ichigo nodded solemnly to exhausted to put up a fight

Renji poured the propane over Keigo's body, once he was far back enough he threw a match on top of the body now covered in rags. The whole group jumped back as the fire caught making an audible _Whumph_ The six of them stood there in silence remembering Keigo, Rukia watched the bright yellow flames engulf the entire features seemed harsher in the light, black smoke billowed up into the air, part of Rukia hoped this would distract the zombies long enough for them to find a place to hole up.

"Let's get going before we smell it." Rukia plugged her nose in warning

"Where are we going then? we don't have enough time to get to the hospital before it gets dark out." Uryu brought up as the newly armed group began to shuffle away from the gun store all on high alert.

"I was thinking we should go hot wire a car or something? or we could find a house an board up for the night." Rukia suggested shrugging her shoulders.

"I like the second Idea." Ichigo offered Orihime looked down at her feet biting her lip.

"My place is pretty quiet, I think we should go there." Chad almost whispered.

"Alright, lets go to Chad's for now and figure out a solid plan." Rukia confirmed. "Chad you lead the way." Chad nodded at Rukia taking the lead once again.

"It's not to far from here, actually it's just around the corner." He said more to himself than to the group.

The group followed him up the steps to his apartment. Rukia realised Chad was right it didn't look as if this area was too populated, she hoped that meant the zombies would stay away as well.

Once inside Chad shoved some furniture against the door and windows. "I realised we forgot to check if the gun store had a radio, luckily I have one anyway." Chad said disappearing into his bedroom, the group followed. Chad crouched down twisting the knobs on the dated radio, the brown finish covered in scratches and dents. So far all that could be heard was white noise, Rukia flopped down on the bed, this whole situation seemed hopeless, they were practically on a suicide mission. Suddenly the radio came to life playing the emergency alarm then following with the message :

 _ **All residents please remain indoors,barricade your home. Do not make contact with infected persons. I repeat Do Not Leave Your stand by for further instruction.**_

"What about rescuing us?" Renji almost yelled at the beat up radio. In response it just played the same message again followed by the emergency alarm. Uryu took out the piece of paper with the coordinates on it and traced his fingers over the numbers. Rukia eyed the paper and noticed blue writing on the back.

"Uryu turn that over." Uryu did as he was asked, Rukia leaned over his arm squinting at the writing. She couldn't make out what is said everything was written backwards. Orihime looked over as well and gasped. "That's Shinji's writing!" Orihime snatched the paper out of Uryu's hands. "It looks like it's ingredients for something."

"Like a cake or something?" Ichigo asked furrowing his brow.

"No, more like medical items, like I would say a potion." She said hesitantly.

"Do you think he was behind this Zombie thing? I mean thats impossible right? I mean sure he acts as if he hates the entire world but he would never be behind some criminal mastermind plot like this right?" Renji said too nervously.

"He wasn't at school at all the past week, I thought he was sick but this makes sense if he was behind it." Uryu added

"I don't like where this is headed." Rukia shook her head in dismay.

"Well, we don't know anything for sure so let's wait before we go making conspiracy theories." Ichigo said soothing the anxiety in the air. "Look let's all get some sleep while we can, we can plan things in the morning."

The group nodded. Everyone was tense not knowing any answers made things worse, maybe Rukia figured if they went to the hospital there would be an antidote and they could bring this place back to normal. _'Wishful thinking Rukia.'_

"We need to take turns keeping watch though, the last thing I need now is to die because I needed to sleep."Rukia adds yawning.

"I'll go first." Offers Chad who's impossible to argue with anyway so they all agree.

 **Orihime:**

The dark terrified her, it always did when she was little but now there was a more logical reason behind it. She scrunched herself into a tight little ball and forced her eyes shut but she was too afraid to sleep, she didn't want to have dreams of the blood that still covered her clothing or of her best friend dead and rotten on the ground outside of her apartment, she didn't want to think that she could've saved her if she had paid more attention to what was happening outside. Why was Tatsuki outside her apartment? Why did Keigo have to die? Orihime was filled with all of these unanswerable questions she was frustrated and upset. She didn't know how to act. Tears filled her eyes as she began to cry she was sick of crying but her body didn't know how else to release the pressure. She was sad, she was sad Ichigo was sad too. "Why?" She mumbled through her tears "Why? why? why?" She sat up and rocked herself slightly she felt like a child.

"Hey,Orihime you alright?" It was Ichigo he shifted closer towards her so he was sitting right beside her. Orihime just shook her head no in response. "It's going to be okay Orihime."

"No, it's not." Orihime's voice came out strangled. Ichigo rubbed her back shushing her. Orihime remembered when Tatsuki used to do the same to her when she had a rough day at school. Remembering tatsuki made Orihime's heart ache and started crying pulled her in tight letting her cry into his chest her cries muffled by the fabric of his shirt. "I will protect you, I'll protect all of us. I promise." Orihime pressed her face into his chest

"I wish I had died instead of Tatsuki, You wouldn't be as hurt then." Orihime admitted she could smell Ichigo's scent even through the blood on his shirt.

"No don't think like that Orihime, you matter to me just as much as Tatsuki does alright?" Orihime nodded wiping her eyes. Ichigo held her again calming her down the last thing she saw was his arm cradling her as black finally closed in as sleep took over.


	4. Onwards!

**_A/N First of all sorry for taking so long to update I finally broke down and was able to write again yay! I don't know when I'll be updating after this since I'm going to be entering a short story contest but hopefully I wont be so long this time. ANYWAY sorry hope you like it okay bye._**

 **Ichigo:**

When Ichigo woke up it was still dark out, the rain hadn't let up and could be heard barraging the roof above. Not long after he had to calm Orihime down he was on look out, it felt pointless to him though, what was the use of being look out when you're screwed either way. Ichigo looked at the clock it was 5:45am, Renji was on duty Ichigo saw him sitting in a chair in the living room wringing his hands as he stared at the door with an intense look on his face. He felt it too, the pain. It clawed at his heart until he couldn't feel his heart anymore. Ichigo wouldn't admit that he had spent most of the night crying over Keigo and Tatsuki. The fact that Orihime felt guilty about it made him feel even worse. This whole thing was a mess, and what was with Shinji anyway? he couldn't see him being the mastermind behind some big plot it just wasn't right. Ichigo ran a hand through his ginger hair and sat up. "Hey Renji, I think we should get going soon, we don't wanna stay here too long." Ichigo spoke as he entered the living room with Renji. Renji sat there he didn't even move or acknowledge Ichigo. "Hey Renji you hear me?" Ichigo waved a hand in front of his face.

"Ugh." Renji grunted in response.

"Renji, are you sleeping?"

"What? no!" Renji jerked up from his seat wiping the drool from his mouth. Ichigo eying him suspiciously.

"Yeah, sure whatever. I don't honestly care." Ichigo shrugged. "Anyway" Ichigo continued. "I was thinking it might be good to move as early as possible so we don't sty here too long. Look we're sitting ducks we should really move."

Renji sighed. "I'm not disagreeing with you I think we should wake the others up first and get their opinion before we make any plans.

"Yeah sounds good. Ichigo nodded heading back into Chad's bedroom where everyone was collectively sleeping on the floor. "Orihime, Uryu, Rukia, Chad. Wake up." Ichigo stage whispered as he shook everyone's shoulders.

Once everyone was awake Ichigo told everyone what he had in mind.

"I was thinking, we should get going asap and head to the hospital I don't think we should stay here for long because they might catch our scent. And we can find out what really going on here."

"That's easier said than done Ichigo, sure we have guns now but that doesn't mean we are invincible." Uryu pointed out. Rukia bit her lip.

"He does have a point Ichigo."

"Yeah, well it's better than being cornered in a tiny apartment with no room to escape." Ichigo pointed out.

The group of six fell silent. Ichigo had raised a good point.

"All in favour of leaving?" Ichigo asked raising his hand.

Everyone raised their hands except Uryu

The blue eyed boy sighed and raised his hand slowly. "Fine, I guess Ichigo does have a valid point for once. Lets go then.

 **Renji:**

The group decided it would be best to have breakfast before they left, so they all shared the same cold bland oatmeal. Renji couldn't complain though it was the least disgusting thing he had seen in the last twenty four hours. He was worried about Rukia though, she seemed to take this whole thing easily but he knew she was just burying her feelings under her assertiveness, he could tell she wanted to be helpful, but no one could be helpful in this situation. Guilt clung to him like a bad smell, he knew he saw the zombie before it attacked Keigo but he didn't respond in time. Why not? Renji knew deep down he was afraid and didn't want another incident like what had happened at Ichigo's house, why was this so hard for him? They weren't even human anymore. Renji shoveled the grey mush into his mouth as fast as possible swallowing before he could gag at the bland texture that all to similar to brains. He couldn't help but notice Ichigo and Orihime looked a bit more comfortable with each other, he wondered if something had happened while he was asleep. He wished he could have that with Rukia, not that they weren't best friends, it just seemed Orihime and Ichigo had something more. 'What a stupid time to be jealous.' Renji shook his head in disapproval. Sometimes he didn't even understand himself. Renji winced feeling pain in the scratch on his neck, he gingerly rubbed the wound hoping it was nothing, he'd rather die like Keigo than become one of those freaks. Luckily he hadn't felt sick yet so far so good.

Renji and Chad moved the barricade around the door as quietly as they could hoping not to stir up commotion, because soon neighbours complaining about noise would be ten times as they had the furniture out the way they were on the move. Renji clutched his shot gun harder, he still had the axe ready to go fastened onto the backpack he was carrying but he really didn't want to resort to using it again. Anxiety crawled up the back of his throat but he didn't let it show, he put himself in front of the group. At least that way he would get hit first, and since he was already wounded it wouldn't matter but he was still scared. He wished he could hide in Chad's apartment forever but he knew it would never work no matter what the government said. Renji led the way down the narrow hallway, since there was no daylight the group had to be extra careful everything was a blind spot. Every footstep accompanied by a groan or creak in the floor, the redhead winced every time they took a step fearing for the worst. Once the group got to the exit Renji huled the door open and breathed a sigh of relief. It was still insanely dark out but luckily for them it wouldn't last long dawn should just be around the corner. 'Hopefully we're alive to see it.'

"Alright, first stop hospital, Then we get the heck away from here." the group nodded not saying a word. Renji shivered and rubbed his arms to keep warm, the rain brought the worse kind of cold, the one that sinks into your body and makes your bones feel like lead. Renji wished he could've had a bath or changed for that matter he wasn't too carried away with the blood stained sweatshirt and jeans he was sporting.'Survival over comfort I guess.' Renji yawned putting a hand to his mouth. "So which way do we go now?" He asked obliviously.

"You're telling me you don't know where the hospital is? And you've lived here how long?" Uryu asked dumbstruck.

"It's no use Uryu, Renji is terrible with direction, Once on a field trip he got us lost for four hours and our parents horrified that we went walking on our own."Rukia interjected. Renji chuckled he missed the good old days especially now.

"Whatever I guess I'll lead the way then since I know the way better than anyone here." Uryu concluded shaking his head. Renji rolled his eyes sometimes Uryu could act like a real douche, and this was no time to be acting like one.

 **Orihime:**

The group shuffled quietly as possible and going as fast as possible. They had agreed to walk in the middle of the road when possible since it would be open and they'd hopefully be able to see any movement .Orihime wished she could block the rancid meat stink in the air, she could always tell when they were getting close to a body because the smell would get even stronger and mixed with the tangy scent of blood. Right now was one of those times Orihime covered her mouth with one hand and held her pistol in the other.

"Holy shit." Ichigo deadpanned.

Orihime finally looked up from her feet which she had been doing to avoid looking at anything particularly gruesome. But that all ended when she looked up and finally understood why Ichigo sounded so flabbergasted.

There were hundreds of mauled bodies everywhere most were concentrated in one large pile, someone had obviously been here and moved them. She could see the horror and the fear still on their faces. Orihime's hands began to tremble, she never asked for this to happen tears formed at her eyes. ' _No, I need to calm down._ ' She shook her head hoping to rid the image in her brain. But their faces were still there, with horrified expressions still painted on them. The group trudged through stepping over bodies and limbs Orihime counted her breathing 'Three seconds . Release.' trying to control her shaking. She tried as hard as she could to not throw up her breakfast, she knew she needed to make the most of what little food she had. The hospital wasn't much further but the closer they got to more carnage they had to get through. The smell of rotting flesh was to much for Orihime to handle anymore she paused for a second and threw up in front of a silver honda parked on the side of the road. The group noticed and waited ahead for her, they may be anxious to get going but they weren't willing to let another person die. Orihime was hunched over for quite awhile dry heaving. That's when she heard gurgling from behind the car. Orihime's heart dropped she clenched her pistol harder. she felt something grab her foot making her lose balance and fall on her back. She screamed in surprise and sat up as quickly as she could. She could hear the footsteps of the group running to help her but they were too far away. There was a zombie crawling out from under the car digging it's nails into her ankle. Orihime couldn't scream now she could only look at the grotesque creature in horror as she saw her life flash before her eyes. 'No I can't die yet.' Orihime shakingly pointed the gun at the zombies head clutching it with both hands to steady her aim, she took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. Everything happened in slow motion, she watched the zombies head blow up like a watermelon and felt the chunks of skin and blood shower her as she sat in shock of what she had just done. She stood up after a minute and walked over to the rest of her friends their expressions look a little like what she thought hers looked like. They were all talking to her but she couldn't hear them, she felt her knees give in and slowly sank to the ground as her vision faded away.

 **Uryu:**

Now Uryu was disturbed if he wasn't before. He just witnessed a person or zombies head explode. Now it was his turn to get sick. Orihime walked over joining the group all the colour drained from her face. "Are you okay?" Uryu asked knowing she must be pretty scared as they all were, it didn't look like she was going to make it,

"Orihime?" Renji asked waving his hand in front of her face. No response. Suddenly she collapsed Ichigo catching her last minute. Ichigo threw her on his back.

"Lets get going the commotion might have attracted more monsters." Ichigo suggested adjusting Orihime om his back.

Uryu nodded the red head had a point. And the five of them began to walk again. They weren't far now maybe half a mile which was mostly uphill. Uryu felt anxious about the train, going uphill was really going to slow them down and if they encountered enemies running towards them they were as good as dead. Uryu tried to focus on what they'd have to do once they got to the hospital,he figured they'd have to fight their way through a couple zombies, he wondered what was going on was Shinji really behind all of this? could he really pull off something so elaborate and if so by himself? And his dad he wondered if he really did die. Uryu wouldn't believe that until he saw his body for himself, his dad was a stubborn man he couldn't see him dying so easily. He pulled out the slip of paper again, there were four numbers written on the bottom Uryu figured it must be the floor and room number. Uryu had been in the hospital enough times to get around by himself, he figured as long as everyone listened to him they'd be safe hopefully. Maybe he was cocky but sometimes that was better than doubting himself. Uryu could make out the large white ominous looking building in the distance and Orihime still hadn't woken up, which was a huge problem. Uryu doubted that Ichigo could carry her for much longer, she wasn't fat by any means but carrying a person for long periods of times tends to exhaust stamina fast. It's not like he had much choice he wasn't going to just leave her to be eaten by zombies, no way.

Luckily Orihime started to wake up, which almost seemed worse, As soon as she remembered what happened she started crying, Ichigo slipped her off his back and hugged her.

"It's going to be okay were almost there try not to think about it okay? I'll protect you." Ichigo soothed.

But even Uryu knew that was easier said then done, but amazingly Orihime managed to stop the flow of tears and straightened her posture it seemed she was ready to face the world. 'Perfect timing' Uryu thought as they approached the entrance to the hospital he took a deep breath he wasn't sure what to expect. clutching his M16 he walked the the automatic doors making a faint whoosh as they opened. The group piled in behind him being as quiet as possible. It was obvious the hospital was no exception to the ravaging done by the zombies. The usually pristine front desk was covered in dark maroon coloured blood it looked as if it led to underneath the desk but Uryu really didn't feel like looking at more dead bodies than he had to.

"What floor?" Chad whispered to Uryu as they headed down the hall. "Well the number written is 2 604 but since he's written everything else backwards I bet it's supposed to be written 4 260."

"The fourth floor? seriously?" Renji whinned.

"It is pretty ironic." Uryu agreed with what Renji was implying.

"I guess you can't use the elevator in a zombie apocalypse" Rukia brought up.

"Yeah we're going to have to take the stairs which should be a fun challenge." Ichigo said sarcastically.

"Okay enough talk let's go."Uryu charged through toward the doors leading to the stairs. he stopped just short of the door, shot the group a horrified look.

"What is it Uryu?" Orihime asked concerned.

"There in there." Uryu pointed to the cement door.

"What are you sure?" Renji said in disbelief

"Listen."

The group fell silent and sure enough you could hear the chorus of moans and growls on the other side.

"I'm going to guess there's at least 10 of them right behind the door." Uryu analyzed shaking his head.

"Is there another stairwell we can take?" Rukia said hopefully.

"Unfortunately no, this is the only way." Uryu shook his head.

"Were going to have to kill them quickly if we give them time to spread out we are screwed." Chad pointed out.

"Okay we need someone to hold the door open while everyone else shoots them. They seem to be gathered by the door but they can't get out." Uryu assessed

The group looked at each other nervously. Who was going to sacrifice themselves?

"I'll do it." Chad offered "I'm pretty strong so holding the cement door open wont be hard and I have tough skin."

"If you're certain." Uryu nodded toward the door."

"I am." Chad walked over to the door. "Just tell me when you're ready.

"Okay everyone guns up. Get ready to get your guns a blazin, but try not to waste ammo."

"I didn't know you were the leader here Uryu." Ichigo complained.

"Look I'm the smartest one here it only makes sense." Uryu boasted.

"Whatever." Ichigo deadpanned clearly annoyed.

"Okay Chad. It's now or never."

"Right." The giant nodded and swung the door open allowing the chorus or noise to grow louder almost deafening.

"Get ready to shoot!" Uryu shouted over the noise. The mini horde screeched in unison."Now!" Uryu yelled as if his life depended on it which it lobby filled with utter chaos there seemed to be no end to the horde Uryu wondered how badly he had miscalculated. 'Have I just killed us all?'


	5. Fourth Floor

**Rukia:**

Grotesque figures stumbled out from the doorway, they were in such a rush to eat flesh it created a bottleneck giving Rukia time to snipe off the stragglers making it too close for Rukia's comfort. There was now a large puddle of maroon coloured blood in the doorway which rukia was not looking forward to have to walk through. She thanked god that just by chance she was wearing her non slip boots today of all days. Her outfit would've been super cute if it didn't have blood splatter all over it, there was something about a school uniform and boots, it made her look edgy at least she thought so. If it wasn't it sure was now. The horde had seemed to have lightened up. It felt like they had been shooting for hours when in reality it had probably been four minutes at most. Adrenaline coursed through Rukia's veins Rukia could practically feel her blood moving. Finally the last zombie had been taken down and an eerie silence fell upon the group. Uryu wasted no time heading into the stairwell. Rukia was surprised at how brave he was acting she figured his father must've said something to him to make him keep going like had been. The rest of the group ran after him hardly thinking about being safe now. Rukia gagged stepping over rotting bodies and black flesh. Rukia really hoped they had guessed right and that there was an actual cure in this hospital.

 **Chad:**

Chad was running up the stairs after Uryu, his heart rate was still trying to slow down after the anxiety inducing stunt he had just pulled. He was fine with holding the door open but he had almost been shot several times, he seemed to forget that this was the first time anyone of them had ever shot let alone hold a gun. For him he was used to it, his abelo used to take him to the shooting range all the time. Holding a gun came naturally to him he saw obvious flaws in the others techniques but there wasn't really anytime for gun 101 at the moment. Chad barely even felt himself move he could see he was running but it was as if his head was disconnected from his body like he was watching what happened. He imagined almost everyone felt like that at this point. Finally the group reached the fourth floor, Uryu stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he opened the door to the floor.

"It's empty." was all he said. Chad had a hard time figuring out why Uryu seemed so surprised by it.

Uryu slowly moved into the middle of the room. Each door was open but not by force.

"What's wrong Uryu?" Ichigo asked catching up with him.

"Look at the doors notice anything unusual?"

"No? I mean they're all open but-"

"That's just it though!" Uryu cut off the oranged haired boy. "Why are they open?" It's obviously not by force look at them they've all been opened from the outside.

"Yeah but the zombies could've done that." Chad stated confused.

"No they couldn't have, have you been watching them? The way there hands are crippled? They couldn't possibly open a door not with their poor functioning brain. Besides these doors are as heavy if not heavier than the one down stairs there's not a chance they could've broken in down."

"So what are you saying? There's a team of insane people out there along with the zombies? Just great." Renji threw his hands up in the air.

"I'm not sure exactly what is going on here." Uryu adjusted his glasses "But it's weird that's for sure."

"Are you sure all the rooms are empty Uryu?" Chad said bringing them back on topic. "Because I think I see someone sitting on that bed over there. Chad pointed a brown finger towards the farthest room, the dull morning light created a silhouette of a slim figure sitting on a bed.

"Oh shit." Uryu and Ichigo simultaneously swore.

 **Renji:**

The redheads heart stopped, this silhouette, it wasn't a zombie it was Shinji. Renji ran toward him pointing his gun at him. Renji slammed the light switch on luckily for him the generator was still running and a yellow light flickered on exposing what Renji thought to be true, sat upon the bed was a slim blonde man known to be Shinji.

"Just what do you think you've done!" Renji shouted shoving the barrel of his gun into Shinji's chest. Shinji just sat there limp not responding to Renji's aggressive approach.

"How could you do this?" Renji begged angry tears threatening to fall, he mustered all the strength he had to keep them back , he could hear the others behind him now he didn't want to cry in front of them. "Tell me!" Renji asked clenching his jaw. Shinji looked up his brown eyes meeting with Renji's.

"You've got it all wrong. I tried to stop it." Renji was taken aback by Shinji's comment. The redhead could see Shinji's eyes were bloodshot and swollen from crying.

"You're lying!" Renji shouted despite believing Shinji's answer he couldn't let it go it didn't make sense. Renji was so angry, Why did he have the right to take away the life he once had. No one was going to be the same after this it wasn't fair. "We found a note with your writing for the co-ordinates to get here the room number and everything. You were the one who stockpiled all the guns weren't you?!" Renji asked all the questions he had on his mind at once.

"I can explain just please point your gun somewhere else." Shinji put up his hands defensively.

"Fine." Renji scoffed putting his gun around his shoulder.

"But this better be a damn good explanation."


	6. Q&A

**Shinji:**

Shinji rubbed his temples in obvious distress his thought were jumbled what happened didn't even make sense to him how was he supposed to explain it to the others? "Ya are right I did write down the co ordinates to here and everything and I did manage to add some more supply's to the store that wouldn't have necessarily been there before yes."

Renji eyed Shinji suspiciously still clenching the gun tightly. Shinji sighed this wasn't off to a good start.

"Anyway, ya see I did this because I knew it was about to happen, I tried to stop it before it happened! The guns , the map, it was all back up plans. I really did try to stop him but I was too late you've got to believe me!" Shinji pleaded, he hated how weak he sounded, he wasn't even sure why he was begging for them to believe him right about now he couldn't care less if he died. He even almost wished it to happen.

"What do you mean you tried to stop him? Who?" Uryu was quick to ask questions. Shinji sighed again he really didn't want to relive the whole ordeal.

"Aizen Sasuke..." Shinji cleared his throat. "He went mad I swear! I can't believe he managed to pull this off, I mean I knew he was an amazing scientist and all but somehow he came up with this disease." Shinji gestured around him imply the current zombie situation. Uryu chewed his thumb as he pieced the information Shinji gave him, the blonde could practically see his mind work.

"Do you know why?" Uryu continued still biting his thumb. Shinji took in a deep breath.

"I'm not really sure why, I just know he said It was the only way to cure the world from it's disease." Shinji shrugged. "He somehow got the idea that I wanted to be part of his plan and told me what he was going to do and asked me if I'd join him, so I lied and joined him hoping I could stop him. I mean at first I thought it was some weird joke... but the dude was totally serious!" Shinji finished stretching.

 **Uryu:**

"Did you manage to get an idea of what he made or any of the ingredients?" Uryu pushed for more info. The blonde looked bored in response.

"No he wouldn't let anyone know what he was making..." Shinji trailed off thinking harder now. Uryu realised what he thought was a bored expression was really Shinji depressed. He'd never seen Shinji even remotely close to sad so it was hard for him to recognize the emotion on Shinji's face. Uryu figured he didn't know what he was feeling either.

"I do know this is where he chose to infect people this is where is started, this room." Shinji's voice cracked as he spoke.

"How did he even get passed security?" Rukia piped in "That's the real question here." Ichigo nodded in response

"Yeah how?"

"He was job shadowing with one of the doctors and stole someone's pass key." Shinji shrugged to him it was obvious.

Uryu paced in the room looking over his shoulder occasionally paranoid more zombies would come up, he really didn't like where they were situated. If some were to show up they'd be backed into a corner for sure, and with almost half their ammo gone already he really didn't like the odds.

"Shinji, do you know where he worked on the disease?"

"Yeah, he worked on it in the schools science room after hours." The group let out a groan

"But we just escaped from there!" Orihime groaned pressing her palms to her forehead. "Are you saying we came here for nothing? Is there even a cure?" She continued trying to calm herself down.

"Yeah what was the point of leading us here if there is no cure?" Uryu questioned Shinji confused.

"I was certain at the time that there would be a cure at the hospital, since this is where he was going to release it I seemed logical that here would be the same place someone could reverse it." Shinji said desperately trying to calm the group down.

"In any case we need to get out of here" Uryu pushed up his glasses. "When there's a shark in the water the smaller fish tend to make themselves scarce." He continued.

"And that's supposed to mean there's a Shark? Wouldn't we be the shark?" Renji asked confused.

"No you idiot, we are the food the wouldn't suddenly run away from us."

"How do you know they just aren't somewhere else?" Rukia asked her voice small.

"Given that this thing whatever is it got released probably this time yesterday its highly unlikely things like them with barley any brain function could get very far never mind escape the building.

"So what could this shark be?" Ichigo questioned stretching his arms as he did so.

"Could be Aizen but I highly doubt it, if what he released is easily mutated we could be looking at the formation of a zombie hierarchy."

"So what now? " Orihime breathed heavily.

"Obviously splitting up could make this easier if half went to the school to collect data while the other collected data here, however the means of communication is a problem as well as safety, I think we should see what we can gather from here and hopefully Shinji will remember something that can get us closer to the cure, in short if we are lucky we won't have to go back to the school." Uryu paused to look around. "On the other hand we are going to have to make sure we find a safe place to hide out while we are here, we can't get ourselves backed into a corner I suggest we search the hospital for an ideal spot, they should also have some food to keep us going for awhile.

The group nodded. "Sounds good, But we should split up one group looks for food the other for shelter it would make this go faster. Ichigo suggested.

"Yeah but he just said it wouldn't be ideal do you listen to anything people say Ichigo?" Shinji spoke up realizing he was about to get roped into the mess as well.

"No, he might be right. As long as we stay in the hospital I don't think we'll be in too much danger by separating. All right then those who want to look for shelter are with me and the others go with Ichigo for food."

"Who said you were in charge?" Ichigo challenged the blue haired boy.

"Do you really think you would've lasted long without my help?" Uryu offered. Ichigo grumbled and shut up.

Shinji automatically stayed by Uryu's side, he had no interest in looking for food that was the last thing he cared about, also Uryu seemed to be rational enough not to try and kill him so that was an upside as well. Orihime stayed with Ichigo as well as Renji. Chad stayed with Uryu and Rukia undecided finally decided to follow Uryu as well.

"We'll meet here in an hour and a half for convenience's sake" The group nodded and then they were off

Orihime:

The redhead had spent about roughly thirty minutes looking through fridges for something edible. So far all she had come across were Pee samples which made her cringe and and assortment of flavoured Jello. She grabbed multiple containers of the Jello and threw them into her bag. She was on autopilot, She had been avoiding remembering anything that had happened in the last two hours alone but her will power wasn't strong enough soon she felt memories flood back to her. She felt detached from her body as if there was a shadow inside her pulling her soul closer and closer to itself. Suddenly it felt as if she was shrinking into herself all she could hear or feel was her heart beat going faster and faster her face was hot she stood at the fridge and stared vacantly waiting for the feelings to pass.

"Orihime? Renji waved a hand in front of her "Are you okay? Maybe you should lie down while we look?"

Orihime snapped out of her daze still feeling her heart violently beat she shook her head. "No I'll be fine sorry I didn't mean to worry you, thats me for you always off in space!" She faked smiled a smile she used to flash when things were normal. Renji began to wonder if every smile he had seen from her was fake. Orihime took in some deep breaths. Tonight was going to be a long night.


	7. Split Up!

**Renji:**

The tattooed man couldn't stop wondering if Orihime felt the same way as he did. After all they had watched themselves kill someone even if what they killed was no longer human. Somehow it seemed different as if the groom Renji killed was different than the zombies he aimlessly shot at in the hospital corridor. Renji shook his head he didn't understand why he felt so guilty, it's not like he had known the groom.

Renji was searching cupboards in the stock room with Orihime while Ichigo was around the corner in the kitchen. The three of them we careful not to make any noise, closing cupboards in slow motion to avoid banging. Renji hadn't had to go out of his way to be this quiet since he was thirteen. It brought back fond memories of sneaking out of the house when he wanted to escape from home. Now their lives depended on being quiet.

"Hey Orihime..." Renji almost whispered. "You know before we came and got you, I had to kill someone. Well not someone I guess one of those things...but still."

Orihime looked at Renji with realisation. "I- well you saw, my body count is much higher than yours..." Orihime looked at the floor for a moment. " I know I was defending myself. But I still feel guilty... I feel so wrong." She continued her eyes dark.

Renji nodded. "No that's what I was going to say I think I understand how you feel, I feel the same way. Like I shouldn't have done what I did even though I would've died otherwise. And what's worse is the guy I-uh The guy I killed...well he was dressed for his wedding." Renji relaxed it was nice to finally admit how he felt.

Orihime nodded in remorse. "Yeah, I just try to block it out you know? focus on the task at hand not what happened in the past. But it's hard too when were sitting here trying to figure out this disease." Her red hair fell over her shoulders and she slumped down in defeat. "I just wanna go home." Renji couldn't argue with her there.

 **Uryu:**

Uryu racked his brain trying to figure out the most practical place to set up a 'safe house' In a hospital was. After all the times he went here with his dad he thought he'd have a better idea of where to go, but a zombie apocalypse wasn't something he figured he would have to prepare for. Uryu was at a loss for idea's every thing that came to mind would either leave them too open or box them in. Uryu groaned in frustration and began pacing back and forth.

"Shinji, do you have any idea? You've obviously been here longer than us know of anywhere that's quiet? and by quiet I mean no zombies." Uryu begged.

Shinji seemed to ponder his question for awhile.

"Other than here I haven't really been anywhere else, it's been fairly quiet here I haven't seen any of those creatures since I got to this floor actually." Shinji shrugged "I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or not."

Uryu considered this. It could be possible that the floor was hard to get to for the zombies on the lower floors he didn't think climbing came easy to the infected. But there were many floors above so why hadn't any accidently made their way in here? Uryu bit his lip, there were a few possibilities:

 **1**. He was right about the mutation and there was a 'Shark' zombie hunting out the small fry due to lack of fresh meat (Aka them) Which would be bad news for them.

 **2**. out of some bizarre circumstance they had just stumbled upon a clear floor perfectly protected from the creatures within the hospital (Unlikely but wanted)

 **3**. They hadn't been there long enough to draw attention but were in just as much danger here as anywhere else (Likely and probably the case.)

Uryu sighed. "Well we better figure something out before Ichigo gets back. Last thing I need is for him to gloat about how I'm not so smart after all." Uryu rolled his eyes at the thought.

"Let's check out the hallway and see if we can find something worth setting up camp for.

 **Orihime:**

The redhead struggled to carry the backpack filled with various food items. The cans really weighed down the pack causing Orihime to have some serious back pain. She sucked it up though, not wanted to be weaker than she already had proven herself to be. Orihime prayed she didn't have to run anytime soon because she would not make it if she did. The three of them were making their way back to the fourth floor, they grabbed as much food as they could carry and now began their journey back. They moved slow barely making a sound, the silence was eerie and loud. It made Orihime uncomfortable, she'd rather be oblivious of the fact that any sound could be one of the zombies headed their way.

"Guys..." She whispered as they made their way through a dimly lit corridor "What if they still don't have a place for us to hide out? What then?"

"I've been thinking about it too, I was thinking we could stay where the pharmacy is, It doesn't have any windows and there's a lot of security there not to mention we could work on the cure...if we figure out how to even make it I guess." Ichigo said rubbing his temples in stress.

Orihime just nodded. Maybe it was better if she didn't ask questions, she didn't want anyone getting stressed out more than they already were. Orihime continued to chew at her nails getting increasingly anxious as they got closer to the stair case. She didn't want to see the bodies again or have to step over the partially dried thick blood. When they got to the staircase the scene was just as gruesome as they had left it. If not more. It never ceased to amaze Orihime how much blood there was on the floor. She plugged her nose and looked away and stepped over the corpses anyway. ' _I'm so sorry this happened to you.'_

 **Shinji:**

Uryu still hadn't come up with a plan, and as usual Chad hadn't spoken a word. Shinji wished he had gone with Ichigo now at least he would've been with Orihime. Not that Rukia was bad either but she had hardly spoken either, which was unusual for her even in during the current circumstance. Shinji sat on the bed and swung his legs back and fourth like a kid waiting impatiently. "I know!" He suddenly spoke up. "Why don't we just stay here?"

Uryu shot him a look. "Why would that be a good idea we'd be trapped!" Uryu protested.

"Yeah," Shinji agreed. "But It's the best place to die, in bed." Shinji shrugged. He was met with flabbergasted expressions. Clearly no one appreciated dark humor, but how else was he going to get through this? By sulking? No way not a chance, there was no way he could be so boring.

Footsteps could be heard coming up the stair well causing Shinji's stomach to flip flop a little before realising it was probably Ichigo and the others coming back with food. Sure enough when the door opened they were greeted by three red haired teens carrying large duffle bags full of food. Shinji hadn't really thought about food, until now he hadn't realised how hungry he was. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. "Hey" Ichigo said nodding their way "So any idea's of where to hole up?" Uryu looked away his pride getting the best of him. "No..." He whispered in response.

Renji walked towards Shinji "Hey I just want to apologise for my actions earlier, it wasn't cool of me... I'm just stressed out." Shinji nodded.

"That's okay I figured you were." Shinji caught a glimpse of something behind Renji. A grey blob was all Shinji could make out. He whipped out his pistol from his back pocket. "Hey what the hell!" Renji yelled confused

"Duck Idiot!" Shinji shouted Renji did as told and Shinji aimed and fired.

Blood splattered against the walls and a audible thud could be heard as the once alive or dead creature collapsed on the ground.

"Thank you..." Renji said breathlessly

"No problem." Shinji put the pistol back into his pocket. The adrenaline shooting through him.

"Well we're screwed we have nowhere to go, and if this guy could get in here that means there could be more on their way, we've stayed here for too long." Uryu said shaking his head in dismay.

"I have an Idea." Ichigo offered.


	8. Fright

**Shinji:**

The blonde still felt rattled after his gun had gone off. It sent him into a flashback, he begun to remember the thoughts he had tried to forget.

 **Before:**

Shinji paced nervously around the hospital room. Was he too late? had he put together exactly what was happening only to fail to stop it? Aizen had said to meet at the front desk on the second floor but there was absolutely no one on this floor from what Shinji could see it was a fairly quiet place. Shinji clenched his fist, he was going to kill Aizen for this. He didn't really think he was serious about unleashing some disease. He thought it was dark humor, he didn't even think it was possible. But every minute that went by made everything seem less impossible than he originally believed. Suddenly he heard screaming down the hallway he peaked his head around the corner to find a nurse being mauled by two people. No not humans something very different...or was it? One of the figures lifted its head meeting Shinji's eyes, It wasn't human...anymore. ' _Oh what the fuck is that._ ' The creatures had grey blotchy skin and oozed pus from sores in their body. These two Shinji could make out were former lab techs he recognized the lab coats from the one Aizen used to wear. The one zombified lab tech who looked at Shinji earlier came stumbling towards him, awkwardly swinging it's arms as if it were skating on ice for the first time unsure how to balance itself. In shock the blonde walked backwards he had a gun in his back pocket which he slowly grabbed. The fist zombie was now joined by his partner in crime lab tech No.2 and recently turned nurse who looked the worst out of all of them. He entrails were hanging out of her body dragging on the floor, blood staining her pink scrubs. Shinji gagged but was to scared to actually vomit. The blonde put the gun to his head instead of the zombies. he didn't want to live through this he had seen enough. Aizen won.

He heard the gun click and waited for his vision to fade or too feel pain he wasn't sure what to expect, instead he realised the gun hadn't gone off. Instead it had jammed. _'Well now i'm screwed either way. Great_.' Just then a man came running down the corridor with a rifle. He shot the three dead without even stopping.

"What are you doing just standing around for kid? Get out of here!" The man screamed back as he ran past him. He wore a doctor's coat and looked somewhat familiar to Shinji he just couldn't figure out why. Shinji shook himself out of his daze and ran the way the man did not looking back at the carnage before him.

 **Now:**

Shinji followed Ichigo and the others to the pharmacy where he had suggested they could hide out. He had to admit it wasn't a bad place, despite the fact they were in one of the worst places to be in during a zombie apocalypse they didn't have much of a choice. Shinji never caught up with that man instead he hid away in one of the ex mental patients rooms

the one where he was supposed to be in with Aizen where he would've tried to stop him. He wondered if the man was still in the hospital or managed to escape.

 **Renji:**

"Okay, let's hope we can figure this thing out before it's too late." Renji said setting down the duffle bags on one of the counters. I mean how exactly are we going to make a cure anyway? I mean I know Uryu's a nerd but I doubt he can figure anything out. I mean aren't we a little out of our league? Maybe we've been over confident about this whole thing, maybe we should just get outta town." Renji bit his fingers anxiously.

"You idiot! There's no point in second guessing this entire mission now! We've got to try what we can, besides we also have Shinji now as well, who in case you forgot is basicly a scientist. Even if we ran away who knows how long we'd be running until we found somewhere safe? And for how long? It's best to try what we can now before it's too late." Renji was left speechless. "I-I... Well then I guess you're right Rukia, sorry for doubting this guys." The redhead looked at the floor embarrassed. Rukia made a pretty good point though, even if they couldn't there was no harm in trying.

"Well I was wondering the same thing too actually." Chad spoke startling everyone. He had been quiet for so long Renji almost forgot he was there.

"Thanks Chad." Renji nodded at the large man.

"Well, the lab's in the back so unless we're gonna keep talking instead of doing I suggest we get started." Shinji said interrupting them. Uryu nodded and followed Shinji into the lab.

"We should probably start to set up some defense here, at least some protection against the zomz incase we're suddenly attacked you know like they tend to do in movies." Ichigo brought up nonchalantly.

"Good idea." Renji forced the shutters down blocking out the light causing the room to become extremely dark.

"I can't see anything where's the flashlight Renji?" Rukia asked unseen to the redhead.

"Hang on one sec."Renji replied gruffly as he walked slowly searching for the flashlight he had placed on the counter a moment ago.

"Renji?" Ichigo called out this time.

"Yeah yeah I know I can't see anything either guys calm down would ya?" Finally his fingers grasped the cool metal. _'Yes!_ ' he spun around in a victory dance before turning on the flashlight.

Before Renji knew what was happening he felt his feet slide from underneath him and felt his back slam into the linoleum floor. _'Danm it, I'm an idiot._ ' The flashlight fell out of his hand rolling along the floor briefly shining on the red sludge that had caused Renji to slip. ' _Blood?_ ' The flashlight stopped rolling the light casting a shadow, confused Renji grabbed the flashlight and sat up to get a better look. "Holy Fuuu-!" Renji screamed falling back on the floor dropping the flashlight again not bother to pick it back up. Instead he scrambled backward away from the wall.

"Renji? What's wrong!" Rukia hissed under her breath. "You're being too loud."

Rukia walked over to the redhead instead of waiting for an answer. "Renji why are you acting so-" Rukia's mouth dropped.

 **Rukia:**

It was image before her made her stomach churn,leaning against the wall was at least four bodies presumably ex hospital workers. They had already started to rot. Their faces were permanently fixed with an expression of horror, it was different than the zombies it was clear they had died as humans their skin was still tinged pink. "Somethings not right Renji. They're not Zomz they're h-humans?!" By now the rest of the group with the exception of Shinji and Uryu had heard the commotion and made their way over to the light to see what was going on.

"What if they come back?" Orihime whispered her voice shaking. Rukia pondered the thought, she could be onto something. Since they hadn't been around a human that'd died a human it was unclear to them if the zombie virus even worked on already dead host's but anything was possible right now. "Orihime has a point, we should shoot them in the head just to be safe." If Rukia had learned anything it was ideal to destroy the brain, without a brain there could be no control of the body. Renji shook his head.

"I ain't doing it." Not again, not on humans." Renji said shaking his head stubbornly.

"Renji they're dead!" Rukia reasoned.

"I don't care, it still isn't right." The tattooed man stubbornly protested.

"Look Renji, if this about what happened in Ichigo's house you need to let it go. You did what you needed to to survive, the man was turned you did his soul a favour by ending his suffering." Rukia continued "I would expect you to do the same to me if I had died or turned." Renji stood there silent not acknowledging Rukia just staring straight ahead at the corpses.

"God I'm so sick of seeing death everywhere I look." Ichigo murmured.

"You and everyone else." Rukia shook her head. "This sucks, but I'm not ready to give up yet, not after all the shit we've just gone through."She looked at Ichigo her violet eyes almost pleading for him to keep going, she didn't want anyone giving up, not now.

Renji huffed slumping his shoulders in defeat."Fine Rukia's right we should kill the brain." He said with a sour look on his face. Rukia watched as the redhead pulled out a pistol from his hip, he breathed heavily trying hard not to shake.

"Wait!" Chad whispered. "We can't shoot them, the noise will attract others zomz. We have to pike them." Rukia sighed Chad was right.

"Fine then I'll do it." Rukia said straightening her shoulders, she hadn't done that much so far anyway it was beginning to nag Rukia how much she depended on Renji and the others to do things for her. She grabbed one of the guns of the counter with the pike at the end. It would've look ridiculous even funny to see a person her size to be carrying a gun almost half her size if it weren't for the current predicament. The closer she got to the dead bodies the more she regretted her decision but she carried on anyway. The gun was heavy but she tried her best to make it look like she wasn't struggling she knew she could do this she had to.

She stood over top of the first corpse and aligned herself raven haired girl took in a deep breath before shoving the sword end into the corpse's head. She began to understand Renji's unwillingness to do this in the first place. It felt out right wrong and she couldn't pull her eyes away from the girl's corpse. her blonde hair now matted with blood, and covered in flies. Rukia shook her head, this should've never happened. She closed her eyes as she began to pull the sword out, but she had done her job too well. Rukia swallowed hard and placed her foot on the girl's chest for support, as she did the woman's chest made a sickening crunch. "Oh god oh god." Rukia said through clenched teeth putting all her might into pulling the damned sword out.

Suddenly someone came up behind her and placed their hands over hers. She noticed the tattoo's along the arms. _'Renji'_ She looked back at the redhead to double check.

 _"Hey"_ he nodded toward the gun in a way of saying to pay attention. Rukia rolled her eyes and he helped her reef the gun out of the woman's skull.

"I don't need your help Renji." Rukia whispered slightly embarrassed.

"You idiot, of course you don't" Renji softly replied. It was so weird to be so close to someone, this was as close to hugging as she got with people, usually she was reserved into herself she prefered alone time. But something about Renji's warmth made her feel safe as if he was protecting her. Finally with Renji's help Rukia got the gun's sword out.

"Alright one down three to go." She panted.

But just as she was about to finish off the other corpse it suddenly came to life shocking Rukia causing her to drop the bayonet impaling the now zombie in the stomach. It didn't stop it, instead it made it angier. The zombie growled in anger black sludge dripping down it's mouth. "Somebody kill the other one before we have two zombies to deal with." Rukia ordered as she slowly stepped away from the zombie. The zombie used to be a man about her age maybe older, despite the black sludge and grey skin he looked young. It reached out its arm to Rukia clawing at her, as if he was beckoning her to come to him. Rukia took a big step back causing the zombie to get angrier and screech, if it weren't for the gun in it's stomach it would be exponentially faster. Renji stood in front of Rukia and swung his axe at the angry zombie chopping his head off and silencing its screeching.

Ichigo and Orihime took out the other two corpse before they turned as room was tense, everybody on edge after such a close call. After a moment the group was able to realize that it was safe again giving the group sometime to recoup.

"Thank you Renji, Rukia began to shake the adrenaline corsed through her veins.

"Hey are you alright Rukia? You're shaking pretty bad there." Rukia's throat felt swollen so instead she nodded the redhead shot her an unconvinced look. So instead of prying Renji lightly placed his hand on her back. Rukia wouldn't admit it but she was thankful he was there.

"Okay! I think we're on to something!" Shinji shouted from the back.

"I can't believe they didn't even notice what was going on out here." Ichigo commented slightly annoyed.

"Alright then show us whatcha got." Renji stepped away from Rukia and into the back. Suddenly the room felt ten times colder and ten times more frightening that he was gone. Rukia pressed a hand to her forehead, now was not the time for emotions.


	9. Parasite

**Renji**

He walked away from Rukia quicker than he meant to, he knew she wasn't the most touchy feely type and he didn't want to creep her out.

If he was honest he wished the moment with Rukia lasted longer, minus the zombie sitch. He hoped Uryu and Shinji had a good reason for disrupting him.

Renji was the first to greet them at the door. "So what is it? found a cure?"

Uryu squinted at a vile. "Not quite, but we're close."

Renji threw his arms up in the air. "That's all you have to tell us?"

"No, there's more." He continued still not looking at Renji. This angered the redhead.

"Would you spit it out then?" Renji gritted his teeth, trying not to to take out his stress on him.

"Well, we figured out how the "virus" works,in this case it takes over the host by killing almost every part in the brain except some vital points. Then it begins to take over the hosts motor system, sense of smell etc."

"So its a parasite, not a virus." Shinji cut in dumbing down Uryu's speech before it got to long. Renji nodded in appreciation.

"So how does that help us?" Rukia suddenly spoke making Renji jump. She shot Renji a look.

"Sorry you're so short I didn't see you there." He teased.

"Well now we know how to target it. So we're a lot closer than before. Which is good for us because hopefully that means ending this chaos." Shinji spoke excitedly. Renji hoped he was right. But even if he was how were they going to get past all the horrors they've been witness to. How were they supposed to grieve losing so many people? Would things ever get back to normal? or would a new plague start all over. This wasn't a dream or a video game, there was no restart button. Renji felt stressed just at the thought of things never being the same. Never seeing his parents again. The redhead sighed deeply. Rukia rubbed his back gently, she didn't speak she just stayed close. Renji ruffled her hair slightly letting her know he appreciated her.

 **Before: Pre Zombie.**

Renji trudged to class in the rain, he didn't bother wearing a jacket letting the rain hit his skin and soak through his shirt. He had trouble caring about his well being, he was more concerned about his friends.

"Renji! You're soaked!" Ichigo shouted while running up to meet him.

Renji shook out the water from his hair as if to prove Ichigo's point. "Yeah I guess" Renji shrugged. Ichigo shot him a disapproving look.

"What?"

"You know we care about you, and you just seem so ... down all the time, except when you're cheering us up. I just want you to know I'm here too I guess." Ichigo said sounding a little too much like a father to Renji making him smirk.

"Why are you laughing?" Ichigo's brows knitted together in confusion.

"Nothing. Just you'd make a great dad." Renji said before patting Ichigo on the back. "Thanks." The redhead left Ichigo standing alone looking more confused than ever.

Now:

 **Orihime.**

Orihime felt more useless than ever, All she could do was pass out or cry. She wished she was more like Shinji and Uryu. Maybe then she could contribute more to the cure effort. It wasn't like she wasn't smart, she was. She was top of all her classes, especially in biology. But every time she offered her help she felt like a joke. She was so afraid she'd make everything worse, that she didn't try at all. Orihime busied her self by organizing the supplies, marking things down on a map of the hospital she found pinned on the wall, luckily it didn't have too much blood on it. Since the others were busy with the flashlight she was using the bottom of the door as a light. She was doing fairly well before the light got blocked. Confused she squinted closer at the bottom on the door. She leaned in closer till her eyes adjusted and the sight of a decomposing face was all she could see. It's mouth gnashing at the door violently reddish black ooze dripping onto the floor. Orihime jumped back and covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Orihime took a couple breaths and steadied her breathing before looking under the door again. There was more than one, and now they had been spotted.

"Fuck fuck fuck." Orihime whispered. Why was she such an idiot. Now she screwed everyone here.

"Did you just swear? " Ichigo asked form behind making her silently scream. Orihime put a finger to her lips and gestured for Ichigo to look under the door. "Fuck me." He turned his head away in disgust.

"It's all my fault, I was using the door for a light and now I'm going to kill all of us what have I done. Orihime held her face in her hands. She wanted to disappear.

"Hey, it's okay I'm sure everything will be okay, I doubt it was your fault, the probably just saw us hide in here, don't blame yourself please Orihime." Ichigo's expression soften as he spoke.

"Well what are we going to do?" She asked her throat tightening as she did so, she was so tired of running.

"We'll try stay quiet it for now and hope they move on, it look like there's only two out there right now, so we should be OK." Ichigo said as he rubbed her shoulders to comfort her. "I'll tell everyone what we found okay?"

Orihime nodded. trying her best to stay positive despite the situation. How was he able to keep his emotions in check so well? Was he hurting more than he was letting on? Would he tell her if he did?


End file.
